Break out the poppers–we’re going down under!

As we all well know, Aussieland is prime pickin’s for disco divas: The Minogues, Holly Valance, Olegendia Newton-Jesus…the list goes on and on.

This week’s club bumper is Zoe Badwi‘s “Freefallin’,” which was first released in Australia back in July of last year.

Penned by English singer/songwriter Amy Pearson and produced by Aussie club duo Denzal Park, the song has spent over 18 weeks on the ARIA Singles Chart (where it continues to chart!), peaking at #9 in the last week of October.

Structurally, “Freefallin’” isn’t all that different from any other synth-tastic, surging chorus floor-filler: Like September‘s “Cry For You”? How ’bout Kelly Rowland‘s “When Love Takes Over”? Then jump on board–you’ll probably appreciate this little gem.

It also comes with a pretty killer video, in which Ms. Badwi finds herself raving har-har-hard after accidentally falling asleep on a train. Funny…whenever I fall asleep on the train, I find myself pantless with a burning sensation in my no-no region.

Now, the song is getting a brand new remix treatment as it begins to be serviced stateside. Check out the Moto Blanco Club Mix above now, which gives the song a slightly more glitzy feel thanks to some peppy piano chords and some big, sparkling synthesizers!

DANCE. DANCE. DANCE.

“Freefallin’”was released on November 30. (iTunes)

So here’s a post I’ve meant to do for over a month.

Jessica Mauboy is the runner-up from the fourth season of Australian Idol.

For those who haven’t encountered her name yet in their musical journey, a very brief history: Jessica Mauboy has a very listenable and melodic voice, comparable to that of Jordin Sparks, Alexandra Burke or Charice. Following her exit from Idol, the singer released her electro-tinged R&B debut in 2008, Been Waiting. The record spawned about a half dozen radio smashes, including the two very good singles that first caught my attention two years ago: “Been Waiting” and “Burn.”

On November 5 of this year, Mauboy released Get ‘Em Girls, the follow-up to her debut. ‘Urban’-flared and even more radio-friendly than her first album, Get ‘Em Girls nearly bursts at the seams with a dizzying array of American and Australian producers and co-writers, including Bangladesh, Harvey Mason Jr., Audius, Brian Kennedy and even the legendary Billy Steinberg (who penned Madonna‘s “Like A Virgin”)–not to mention the artist guest list, featuring Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and Iyaz. Not too shabby!

Though a somewhat eclectic bunch, the talent medley totally worked for Mauboy, resulting in a what proved to be one of the better albums of the year. (See–it even made the MuuMuse Top 40 list!)

Two songs from the album have already been released as singles (“Saturday Night (feat. Ludacris)” and “Get ‘Em Girls (feat. Snoop Dogg)”), although both songs were coupled with shoe-string budget clips that make Girls Aloud‘s “Something Kinda Ooooh” video look groundbreaking.)

Singles aside, I wanted to share one of my favorite album tracks: “Maze,” which was produced by Fredro (who’s also responsible for album tracks “Can Anybody Tell Me?” and “Forget Your Name”) and co-penned by one of my current songwriter crushes, Claude Kelly.

Fredro, the song’s producer, is a Swedish-born writer who first began making waves in the early ’00′s producing for about a zillion of MuuMuse’s most approved acts including Shontelle‘s “Ghetto Lullabye” (!), The Sugababes‘ “Switch” (!!), and Holly Valance‘s “Hush Now” (!!!), as well as another former Australian Idol contestant–Season 1 winner, Guy Sebastian.

Claude Kelly is the same man responsible for co-penning Britney‘s “Circus” and “Shattered Glass” (I know, I KNOW…deep breaths!), Miley Cyrus‘ “Party In The U.S.A.” with Jessie J, and a handful of the better offerings from Christina Aguilera this year, including “Woohoo,” “Desnudate,” and arguably Burlesque‘s best number, “Express.” As one of his latest productions now soars up the Billboard charts (Bruno Mars‘ devastatingly good “Grenade”), I’m fully anticipating the talented songwriter to dominate in 2011.

So that is that, and now we have “Maze”: A fantastically slick, electronica-infused R&B scorcher.

The song is particularly fantastic because it somewhat recalls JoJo‘s legendary “Too Little, Too Late” in that the chorus is very anthem-like and triumphant/inspirational sounding, when in fact the actual message of the song is rife with inner turmoil and a certain degree of sadness.

Speaking to its ‘explosive’ quality, “Maze” basically contains approximately two and a half choruses. First, there’s the pre-chorus (“Yeah, ’cause…one minute you want my tou-ee-uch, yeah / Next minute you don’t want none”).

Upon first listen, it seems like this could be the song’s decent chorus–but it isn’t. IT JUST FEEDS INTO A BETTER ONE: “OOOOOH! Should I stay or should I GOOOO?”

But then, something EVEN MORE AMAZING happens toward the end of the actual chorus: “Your heart is like a MA-EE-AY-ZE!” J. Melly bellows and repeats, rendering the listener physically incapable of doing anything except throwing their head back and hollering right along with the Aussie R&B songstress.

In conclusion: “Maze” is a-MAZE-ing. Do you see what I just did there?! LOLOLOLOL.

Get ‘Em Girls was released on November 5. (Australian iTunes) (Been Waiting is available on US iTunes).

And now for some modern sounding electro-pop.

Chris Sorbello is an up-and-coming Aussie pop chanteuse, signed under Ministry of Sound.

As a song/act, there’s nothing in Sorbello’s shtick we haven’t already seen or heard from the best of the best (Britney, Kylie, Gaga etc.), but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have anything good to offer.

Also, her last name sounds like a type of mushroom, and I find that sort of thing silly.

Her debut single, the Minogue-esque “So Lonely,” was released on April 9 of this year and charted at #39 on the ARIA Singles Chart (#5 on the Australia only singles chart). It’s pretty decent.

Now she’s back. Or rather, she’s still here, but with her next single in tow: “Dangerzone.”

Overall, “Dangerzone” is a solid pop stormer. It’s not anything on the level of, say, Rachel Stevens‘ Come And Get It (I’d be more apt to draw similarities to Holly Valance), but it’s a fun little ride nonetheless.

Plus, that “We were talkin’, just talkin’” bit really works for me.

For more information on Chris Sorbello, check out her official website.

This is Kristine Elezaj. She is an up-and-coming 24-year-old pop artist.

According to her official biography, Elezaj is “fierce, fun, edgy, and brave,” which I believe accounts for approximately 74.3% of the total ingredients necessary to concoct the Perfect Pop Star.

As far as comparisons are concerned, I’m seeing Holly Valance with a little bit more rhythm, hearing Heidi Montag with more talent (a bit of Alesha Dixon in moments as well), and recognizing Godney Spears and the Pussycat Dolls as the singer’s most obvious influences.

Kristine Elezaj has some promising songs and she’s made music videos with some fairly solid dancing (see above), but we’re here today to discuss “Warpath.”

“Warpath” is Elezaj’s upcoming single due out in September. It also happens to be amazing.

The song is what I would refer to as a proper ‘trash pop banger.’ It’s basically all about triflin’ men (“man whore”) and revenge and doing the daily chores (“taking out the trash”). There’s a chorus, but then there’s sort of a post-chorus chorus that’s arguably even better. There’s also some swearing here and there.

Now here’s a random list of amazing lyrics, sorted in order:

3. “You’re so dirty–should have known by now you’re a man whore.”
2. “You’re so dirty–should have known by now that this means WAR!”
1. “I saw that trick that you was with tonight / She was Justin Bieber‘s lookalike.”

There’s also a really genius Autotuned, “Disturbia”-esque “AH!” sound after each verse line which is brilliant.

And now, click above to hear an official snippet of “Warpath,” courtesy of Kristine Elezaj’s management. It happens to feature ALL THREE AMAZING LYRICS listed above.

See? It’s a stormer.

Kirstine Elezaj’s debut album will be released toward the end of 2010. For more information, check out her official website.

Tata Young is an incredibly popular, incredibly talented Thai singer who’s spent almost twenty years dominating her homeland. In her spare time, she also enjoys trying to break into the North America market to no avail (oh hay, Hikki and BoA). Thanks to a tip from my BFF JJS at It’s The Money Shot!, I’ve learned that Tata’s trying all over again this year. Perhaps a third time’s a charm?

I was first introduced to Tata in 2006 during my then-beginning-to-wane obsession with all things J and K-Pop. Stumbling upon a little ditty called “Sexy Naughty Bitchy,” a ‘female empowerment’ number of sorts that managed to work its way up the Japanese Oricon Top 10 (the equivalent of the Billboard Charts), I knew I’d found what I was looking for. Yes, the song is as good-bad as the title implies and yes, you can sing along to it with the help of karaoke.

Then came Temperature Rising later that year, a deeply underappreciated and slightly misguided English attempt to break into North American turf for the second time in her career. The album was truly a lot of fun, and still merits play today, including gems like “Back Outta This,” “Uh Oh,” and “Zoom,” (which was later covered by Disney bot Ashley Tisdale). Of course, the greatest of the bunch was the lead single “El-Nin-YO!”, which was sort of like a Holly Valance-meets-Hilary Duff crossover track. I mean sure, Tata was chastised for her newfound image (as evidenced within the somewhat racy strip-off-and-spray-down concept behind the video) but isn’t that just what we love here in America?! INJUSTICE.

Coming forward to 2009, I’ve discovered that Tata is set to release her third English studio album, Ready For Love, which shares the name of the lead track off of the record. It’s a little awkward, and I still don’t see her going anywhere with this, but it’s not bad. In fact, it’s kind of like a track I’d want Whitney Houston to launch with for the comeback.

Look, I don’t really give a shit what works. All I know is that the fucking Wonder Girls cannot be the first Asian act to break the American market. CANNOT. BE.

Click below to hear more from Tata Young.

OH MY FLIPPING BANANA SNAUSAGES, IT’S THE NEW FRANKMUSIK VIDEO!!!

Things of note:
+ Holly Valance‘s acting skills while strolling along town. WHERE IS HER OSCAR.

+ Holly Valance’s karate skills while being mugged. Clearly, filming Dead or Alive has had a lasting effect on her general composure in life.

+ The lady-getting-mugged-and-paintballed-in-the-doorway bit sort of frightens me and leaves me completely unresolved.

+ Mr. Frank looks ridiculously attractive in the last ten seconds, leading to…

+ HOW ‘BOUT THAT KISS, EH?!

And that was “Confusion Girl,” ladies and gentlemen.

From Mr. Vincent Frank‘s MySpace blog:

Mind blown.

Earth shattered.

THEIR VIDEO LOVE WILL RESUSCITATE THIS ECONOMY. I AM SURE OF IT.

“Confusion Girl” video is coming soon, while the actual single drops on July 6.

And then Holly Rachel Vukadinović‘s gloriously electro glitch Frankmusik-produced comeback album is due…when, exactly?